Spotify adds 1 million unique listeners in India in less than a week

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FILE PHOTO: A smartphone is seen in front of a screen projection of Spotify logo, in this picture illustration taken April 1, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

(Reuters) - Spotify Technology SA, the world’s most popular paid music streaming service, said it racked up more than 1 million unique users in India across its free and premium tiers since launching less than a week ago.

Spotify launched in India on Tuesday, stepping into a price-sensitive market crowded by well-funded players such as Reliance Industries’ JioSaavn and Apple’s Apple Music.

The Swedish company is offering a free version that will run with ads, alongside a premium ad-free variant that will charge users 119 Indian rupees ($1.68) per month.

India, with a population of 1.3 billion and more than 400 million smartphone users, is a potentially huge market for the Swedish company.

According to media reports, Tencent-backed Gaana leads the Indian streaming market with over 80 million monthly users. Spotify has 207 million monthly active users globally and 96 million subscribers.

In India, the streaming service also competes with other players including Amazon’s Prime Music, Alphabet Inc’s Google Play Music and Xiaomi-backed Hungama.

($1 = 70.9130 Indian rupees)

Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Alistair Bell